Spear training

[Justin Gifford]

Hey, I haven't been posting much around here, but I thought I'd start a post about spear training tools. I was wondering what people use in their sparring. I've been doing some spear work but no real sparring, but a little while ago I took a couple shafts of dried bamboo I had lying around and split one end of each somewhat, inserting the handle of a Cold Steel Peace Keeper training knife and securing it with tape. You still need at least a mask to prevent facial injuries, as the training knives are fairly stiff, and bamboo is prone to splintering, but I think it's a sound idea for making cheap training spears (if you happen to have some training knives around; if not, they're only $8-10).

By the way, has anybody ever tried the Pike from Alchem, Inc.? "Pikes are a new addition to our fencing line. These consist of a highly flexible 37 inch blade, similar to our flat tang rapier models, mounted in a tubular steel socket. ... Blades are held in the socket by a tubular spring steel tension pin. The pin may be pressed out so that the blade can be removed for transport." Sounded like it might be interesting.

Cheers!

[R Payne]

One of the guys I fence with recently got a couple of those. (at least they look the same, I don't know for sure where he got his) They are fun to work with though I can't comment on haow they compare to the real think as I've never used a real pike, my experience is a bit over a year with foil, epee and rapier. We use the same protective gear as for rapier (mask, gorget, gloves and cup required, heavy long sleeve shirt and pants reccomended). The blade is really flexible but it is still easy to over hit, it requires a lot of control to use the pike. THey do have a lot of reach but if your opponet has a sword and gets inside your blade your probably done for.
Anything specific you want to know? (I may not be able to answer, but you can ask).

ron